I'm more politically knowledgeable than anyone my age I've ever met who votes, but I don't vote in any election above the (very) local level. Cost/benefit. Takes me an hour or so, gains me absolutely nothing.

Gotta incentivize it somehow. I wouldn't spend my time at work if they didn't pay me, and I'm pretty sure both of my current jobs are about as pointless as voting.

I'm a young person in the US and I dislike politics. I do vote every two years but I would never vote for a Democrat or Republican. That leaves me voting Libertarian or Green which I'm fine with. Most say I'm "wasting my vote." Fuck that, you're wasting your vote by voting for the same guys every time. Nothing is ever going to change under a (D) or (R), and I feel like more and more young people are realizing that.

The things I care about go virtually unacknowledged by the mainstream parties.

- I want to dismantle the military machine. Defense spending sucks in so much of the taxpayer's money while education and other spending that would create a better world in the future gets cut. Reduce the military's role to defending our borders ONLY.

- I want to end the war on drugs. It has imprisoned and ruined the lives of millions of people over victimless crimes.

- I want to replace welfare with work programs like the ones FDR created with the New Deal. That means less people getting paid to sit around, more people with jobs, and the creation of much needed infrastructure.

- I think the healthcare system needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. There is far too much waste and inefficiency. It seems like too many people trying to get their piece of the action. I think public health care is the way to go.

- None of these things could even be remotely possible without campaign finance reform. This is the Achilles heel of the corporatist regime. If we could just get one law passed to disallow big money sponsoring our politicians, it would allow all the other important changes to happen. Right now we're stuck, and it is because big money likes things just the way they are.